Generation gap. The creation of this term coincided with the baby boomer generation. The 50s and 60s were a time when apparently the younger generation liberated themselves from everything their parents had held dear in terms of music, values, politics, culture, religion, and so on. The divide between the generations was stark, spawning the term generation gap. And so we today then also speak of Generation X, Millennials, etc. And each generation has some choice words regarding the next generation. It’s not uncommon for someone to say, “Kids these days! This would have never happened in our day.”

But the concept of generation gap is longstanding, even if the term itself is a historical late bloomer. We find that in the book of Judges. You have the generation of Joshua. They knew the Lord, had seen the great work he had done, and they served him. But the next generation, and those that followed, did not know the Lord, abandoned the Lord, did evil in the sight of the Lord, and paid dearly for it.

Our text paints an ugly picture. It reveals what happens when children of the Lord don’t know their God. Sin takes a foothold, and enslaves. It prevents one even from crying out to God for help. And so also this passage teaches us that our only hope is completely outside of ourselves, in God.